Chapter 53
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Illness in the Midst of Fire - 6
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"Hold on, let's stop here."
"Pardon? There's still a ton of backstory left."
"Even what you've told me so far is an overload of information."
It was better to at least summarize briefly before moving on. That way, it wouldn't strain my head so much.
In Rien's adventure tale, the part about Fria had dragged on unnecessarily long, pushing the important details to the back burner.
It was a case of fallout from Amelia's abrupt retirement, but regrettable or not, it wasn't essential information.
If Amelia had just left a single word about Fria to the vice guild master before departing, none of this mess would have happened.
What could you do? It was their fault for not suspecting Sua's high-handed handling of things sooner.
Too bad.
"Was there too much pointless chatter?"
"Not pointless exactly, but it wasn't the story I wanted to hear."
"Since we conquered the 11th floor together, I wanted to explain how we met."
From the moment we'd reunited with Rien, the things I'd wanted to hear were all about Mariel.
"To answer my very first question: yes, the 1st floor and the 11th floor share the same origin."
"Origin?"
"Well, how do I put this? They're spaces pulled from the same world."
"Uh... I'm already lost."
The key fact Rien needed to grasp first was that the tower's floors weren't newly created spaces.
As you climbed, you'd start spotting the evidence yourself, but with the highest record barely reaching the 60th floor, precious few adventurers knew the truth.
Harman and Mariel had grown up together in the same village since childhood.
But the region Mariel had visited for the demon subjugation became the 11th floor, while the village where Harman lived turned into the 1st.
"I had no idea other worlds even existed."
"The tower itself is a separate world from reality, isn't it?"
"Sure, everyone's curious about what the next floor holds, but no one ever wonders where these floors came from."
Mariel had naturally recognized the nameless sword in Rien's possession.
As I'd confirmed earlier, Mariel hadn't forgotten Harman.
"The only reason she asked if you were from Luden—or had at least visited—was because she assumed you'd bought the sword he forged."
"So that means this place is Luden?"
"I can't say for sure."
Harman might have gotten trapped in the tower while visiting some other area temporarily, away from his original home.
His granddaughter Sylvia was here with him, but her parents weren't anywhere in the village.
On the flip side, this could very well be Luden, and the tower might have formed right when her parents had stepped away briefly.
"The important thing is that neither Mariel nor Harman has any inkling the other is somewhere else in the tower."
It was an exquisite chain of events.
Harman had recalled Mariel's existence, but his other memories remained a blank slate.
He had no idea how they'd been separated or anything about the demon subjugation.
Which meant he had no clue she was on the 11th floor.
Mariel, for her part, didn't know the general rule that external items couldn't be brought into the tower.
The 1st floor residents could witness the very first adventurers entering the tower, but those on the 11th floor only ever saw people arriving from the 10th.
Even seeing the sword in Rien's hands, Mariel never considered Harman might be on a lower floor.
If she'd known the rules, she never could have imagined Rien obtaining the sword before entering the tower.
In the end, she had no idea he was on the 1st floor.
We weren't even from their world to begin with.
Even if Harman hadn't ended up on the 1st floor, there'd have been no way to cross paths with him outside the tower.
Of course, Mariel had no way of knowing that either.
"Mariel's been stuck in the tower for 30 years, so she has no idea if Harman's doing well... or even alive."
"That's why you got to confirm he's still kicking this time."
She might not know he was only 10 floors below, but at least now it was clear he was alive.
We changed locations one more time.
"Rien?"
"Long time no see! Receptionist sis! You didn't forget my name!"
The two greeted each other warmly.
They even shared a light hug.
"Your vibe's changed just in the time I was away."
"Really? I did get some new gear fitted, but is it that noticeable?"
"The newbie aura's gone in a flash."
Ellie peeked out from behind Rien's shoulder.
"Earthbound Spirit, sir? Didn't you head out hunting this morning?"
I'd already cleared the slime extermination request by then.
This second visit was for a different errand.
Ellie's request office was stocked with books.
Like the Slime Dictionary I'd used before, it held the most comprehensive info on the village.
"Something came up. You got any books recording the village's history or details like that?"
"Ah, that's what this is about. What are you looking for exactly?"
"Just checking if the place name 'Luden' ever pops up here."
The old village name should be findable.
"Luden? Hang on. Luden... it rings a bell."
Ellie pulled a book from her drawer.
She flipped it open and quickly found the word.
"Here it is. Luden. The village name from almost six years back. It was so long ago I'd forgotten myself."
"Why'd it stop being used? Seems like a perfectly fine name."
"Right? They didn't even switch to something else—it just vanished entirely."
Ellie's explanation was straightforward.
"Names are for distinguishing things, but once this became the tower's 1st floor, there was no need to differentiate it anymore."
"...Only one village here. No point naming it."
"No use for it, so it faded away naturally."
Villages normally interact through trade, migration, cultural exchange, and the like.
But the people on the 1st floor no longer had any reason to think about other villages.
They were nothing but imperceptible foreign lands.
"So yeah, this confirms it's Luden."
"Looks that way. Harman never once moved his home."
From his boyhood days right up to now, with his hair turned white.
"Senior, doesn't something feel off about this?"
"What part?"
"The 11th floor's been around for 30 years, but the 1st floor only six? The timeline doesn't add up."
Rien had zeroed in on when the 1st and 11th floors had become part of the tower.
The 1st floor had started later, even though it should have come first—while the 11th had been incorporated even earlier.
The space for the 11th had been locked in before the 1st floor was even settled.
Wait.
That really was weird.
"Hold on. That's not the only issue."
Once you spot one contradiction, you start questioning everything you know.
The timelines for the 1st and 11th floors should've had at least a 20-year gap.
We couldn't confirm they'd been born the same year, but they were obviously around the same age.
If Mariel's area became part of the tower first, and Harman's only joined 20 years later...
"The tower has no aging."
Be it the 1st floor or the 100th.
An unchanging truth.
Harman was an old man.
Which meant Mariel's body should've been frozen at a point over 20 years younger than his.
But her hair had faded with age too.
Mariel was an old woman.
Which meant Harman's body should've been fixed over 20 years older than hers.
Yet he could still swing a hammer.
Sure, he had aches and pains aplenty, and the robust health of his youth was long gone.
It was an old man's body, no doubt—but hardly one aged 20 years more than Mariel's.
If it were, he never could've immersed himself in work for hours every day.
Even if the actual time they'd spent breathing was the same length, their appearances should've shown a clear difference.
And yet, at a glance, they still looked about the same age.
Why?
I still knew next to nothing about the tower.
That realization hit me.
"We have been chosen!"
For some reason, the zealot's cry from the 11th floor echoed in my mind.
Chosen by whom?
It was just the ravings of a deranged fanatic—pointless to dwell on.
"Senior, shall I go on with the rest of the story?"
I nodded.
The tale picked up again at the enchanter's enhancement shop.
Starting from the moment Mariel recognized Rien's sword.
She was convinced it was one that Harman had made.
('To be precise, it was one that Harman, Senior, and I made together. But since it was modeled after the one in Harman's records, it's not wrong.')
With Rien hounding her endlessly about his survival, she could no longer stay silent.
"I got it from a blacksmith in a village I stopped at briefly. The smith who made it is alive, of course. Not sure if it was Luden, though..."
"It had to be. There's only one person in the world who could forge a blade like that."
Unlike what Mariel imagined, the 'village' Rien was talking about was one inside the tower.
In Rien's world, you couldn't just buy a real sword outside the tower like it was candy—and even if you could, you couldn't bring it inside.
In Mariel's world, every village probably had at least one weapon shop as a matter of course.
"As long as he's alive... that's enough. Really..."
"......"
"I'm glad. ...So glad."
Mariel had never once imagined that Harman was trapped inside the tower just like her.